Electric switch



June 18, 1940. p A. HEADY 2,204,892

ELECTRIC SWITCH Fild Oct. 22, 1938 Patented June 18, 1940 UNITED sTAresiiA'rENi OFFICE ELECTRIC SWITCH Paul A. Heady, South Pasadena, Calif.

Application October 22, 1938, Serial No. 236,466

6 Claims.

This invention relates to an electric switch of the multiple contacttype.

An object of the invention is to provide a conipact and longer livedswitch of the type stated.

Another, and more specific object, is to providea switch constructionhaving a set of circuit making and circuit breaking brushes formed ofstrips of resilient metal which are arranged in such a manner that thesame strips which open and close the circuit also constitute pawls thatcooperate with ratchet elements to prevent a backward rotation of theswitch, thereby adding to the com" pactness and simplicity of thestructure.

Still another object is to arrange and proportion the resilient brusharms in such a manner that they will be only slightly flexed by theoperation of the switch, and therefore will maintain their resiliencyfor a long period of active use.

direction.

This switch is particularly well adapted for use as a means to controlthe current for floor lamps. The switch may be mounted around thetubular standard of a fioor lamp thus economizing space.

Other objects, advantages and features of the invention will hereinafterappear.

Referring to the accompanying drawing, which illustrates what is atpresent deemed to be a preferred embodiment of the invention,

Fig. l is a section taken on line I-I of Fig. 2, except that the brushesare shown in elevation, and the wiring diagram is also include-d.

Fig, 2 is a section on line 2--2 of Fig. l, a fragment of the supportingmeans being included in the View and shown in side elevation.

Fig. 3 is a side elevation of a floor lamp the filaments of which arecontrolled by the switch construction to which the invention pertains.

Referring in detail to the drawing7 the casing of the switch. comprisestwo cooperating, diskdike members III and II, the member II] being ofthe greater diameter and having a laterally extending peripheral flangeI2. The disk II likewise has a peripheral, lateral flange or annularextension I3 around which closely fits the flange I2 of the larger vdiskwhich forms a cap member when the two disks are in the assembledrelation, as shown in the drawing.

The members I0 and II are of the turnable cap member Ill appears to be asym- 1.0.

metrical part of said standard and that the necessity of using switchbuttons of a more or less unsightly character is avoided. Said memberIIl if; easily reachedv by the hand from all sides.

The cap member I0 has an annular flange I8 which, when the parts areassembled, occupies a spaced intermediate relation to the flanges I3 andI 4, and projects from the same face of said disk I0 as does itsperipheral flange I2. In the space between said flange I8 and thehub-ange III there is located an inner disk member I9 which is turnablymounted upon the hub-flange I4, said disk I9 having an annularperipheral flange 2| which is in a spaced relation both to the hubflangeI4 and the flange I8 of the manually turnable disk IIJ.

The relatively thick flange or annular eXtension I3 of the stationarydisk II has elongated interior recesses 25, three of these being shownin Fig. 1. The lengths of these recesses extend in the direction ofthecircumference of the flange in which they are formed and the endportions of each of these recesses are shown furnished with indentationsor seats 26 and 21. Into these seats are fitted bent portions of brusheswhich consist of resilient strips of metal, three brushes 3 I, 32 and 33being thus provided.

By preference and as shown these three brushes are all of identicalconstruction, each consisting of an outer straight run 34 terminating ina curl 35 which fits into the concavity afforded by one cf the seats 2l,while at the opposite end of said straight run the strip is conveXlyrebent, the convex side of the bend being fitted into the concavityformed by one of the seats 26. The rebent inner free end portion 3l ofeach of the aforesaid three brushes is somewhat curved, as shown, itsconcave side being directed towards the center of the device and itsfree end portion 50 forming a contact. The convex bends in the brushes tthe seats provided for them and cause the brushes to last longer thanwould be the case if they were angularly bent. The brush 3l is suppliedwith current from the feed wire 38, the

material which brush 32 delivers current through wire 39 and the brush33 delivers current through the wire 4D.

The contact making means afforded by the free end portions of theaforesaid three brushes cooperate with the facing strip 4I of conductingis mounted exteriorly upon the annular iiange I8, said brushes alsocooperating with the non-conducting segment of said flange whichintervenes between the end portions of said conducting strip 4I. Saidflange I8 has a series of four circumferentially spaced ratchetshouldersli which divide it externally into quadrants. Said facing strip4I is a strip of conducting metal which is shaped to conform to saidquadrants and shoulders and has inwardly directed anchoring end portions4ta directed into seats provided for them in the iiange I8.

In addition, the flange I8 is provided with a series of ratchetshoulders which divide it interiorly into eight segments The purpose ofthese interior shoulders is to impart at times a clockwise turningmovement to the inner disk i9. In order to accomplish this the flange 2!of said. inner disk carries a spring pawl 4G which cooperates with saidinterior ratchet shoulders. The flange 2i also carries externally asemicircular conductor strip 47 one end portion of which is led throughthe flange and is continued inwardhT as a combined pawl and contactmaking arm 4B, while the opposite end portion of said strip 4'! forms alike arm 49 having similar functions. Said arms 4S and 49 act asconducting brushes in cooperation with two identical conducting facingstrips Ei and which are carried by the hub flange 2i. Each of thesestrips consist of a piece of metal which is partly embedded in andpartly overlies the insulating material of which said hub flange isformed, thereby forming four segmental conducting surfaces between whichintervene, in

alternation, four segmental nonconducting surfaces. A branch El of feedwire 38 supplies cur-- rent to said strip 5I and a current delivery wireG2 leads from said strip 52.

The hub-like flange i4 has exterior, equally spaced, ratchet shoulders1I, eight of these shown.

to cooperate with the combined brushes and pawls 48 and 49.

Describing further the wiring shown in Fig. l, current delivered by thewire 62, already mentioned, passes through the filaments 63 of the twolamps 64 and thence out to the main wire 65. The lamp is of a greaterwattage than either of the lamps 534-. One of its laments 61 is suppliedby the wire 3Q whenever current flows through this wire, the currentafter passing through said nlament passing through a branch wire to thenegative line G5. The iilament 6'! is a 200 watt nlament and said lampalso has a ldd watt filament Gil. The latter lament is supplied theaforesaid wire 48 which also continues its current through the negativebranch wire In Fig. 3 the lamp standard IG is shown furnished with anupward extension i633 upon which is mounted the various lamps and theiriilaments above describe the reference numerals on the latter viewcorresponding with those of the wiring diagram.

In the operation of the device, when it is desired to energize the 1GOwatt lament GS of the lamp 6G, the cap member I0, as positioned in Fig.l, is turned anti-clockwise a quarter of a rotation thereby causing thequadrant of insulating material which is engaged by the tongue 37 of thebrush 3l to move out of Contact with said tongue and the conductingstrip 4I to take its place. This movement will put the middle brush 32out of service but will allow the third brush 33 to remain in contactwith said conducting strip so that current supplied from feed wire 38through brush 3| will pass through the strip 4I and thence by way ofwire 4U through the aforesaid lament S9 and thence by way of the wire S8to the main negative wire 65. Continuing the same turning movement anadditional quarter turn will bring the brush 33 into engagement with thesegment of insulating material and cause the intermediate brush 32 toengage one end segment oi the conducting strip 4! while the brush SIengages the opposite end segment of said strip. rFhis will cause thecurrent to be turned oil from the Iilament G9 but will permit currentfed to the brush 3I to pass thence through the strip 4I, intermediatebrush 32 and wire 39 to the 200 watt filament El and thence by wire 68back to the main negative wire 65. Furthermore, it is evident that byturning the cap member I0 an additional quarter turn in theanti-clockwise direction ell three of said brushes will be brought intoContact with the conducting strip 4I thus energizing both niaments ofthe lamp 66.

During all the switching positions that have thus lar been described thetwo lamps E4 may be on or off because the inner brushes 48 and 49 maypreviously have been adjusted to open or close the circuit to the latterlamps, said two brushes being advanced by rotating the cap member shortsteps in the clockwise direction without aiTecting the :dow current tothe filaments El and 69.

The way in which the aforesaid short reverse clockwise turning movementsof the cap member 5G may utilized to turn on or off the current throughthe two lamps G4 will be better understood it is iirst noted that theinternal ratchet shoulders 45 of the cap member flange I8 can thus becaused to act upon the spring pawl 46 of the flange 2| of the internaldisk I9 to turn the latter disk step by step; it being necessary also tonote the fact that said internal ratchet shoulders are closer together(half as far apart) as the external ratchet shouldersl 412 of the samemember, and the ratchet shoulders 2| of the hub-like ange are stillcloser together, dividing the latter flange into eight segments.Furthermore, the inner brushes 48 and 49 are diametrically opposite toeach other so that at all times they both engage either insulating orelse conducting segments of the flange 2 I. In Fig. 1 both these brushesare shown on non-conducting segments, but by turning the cap member IUhaving the flange I8 only a one-eighth turn in the clockwise direction(which will not necessarily alter the functioning of its three brushes3I, 32 and 33), the spring pawl 4G will be acted upon thus turningslightly the inner disk I9 and causing the brush 48 to engage theadjacent exposed end portion of the conducting strip 5I, while its matebrush 49 will be caused to engage the diametrically opposite exposedportion of the conducting strip 52. Owing to said brushes 48 and 49being connected by the conducting strip 41, this strip and its brushescollectively considered form a conductor which, under this condition,will bridge the gap between thc conductor strips 5I and 52, with theresult that current from feed wirc 6I will pass through the strip 5I andthence through said brushes and their uniting strip to the strip 52whence the current will pass through wire 62, lamps 64 and thence to thenegative line wire 55.

From the foregoing description it will readily be seen that by rotatingthe cap member lll clockwise a one-eighth turn from any one of its fourlighting current controlling positions the lamps B may be turned from onto off, or Vice versa. The ratchet shoulders 1| of the hub-like flangeHl prevent progressive anticlockwise rotation of the cap member fromdisturbing the position of y the flange Zi oi the inner disk I9.

I claim:

l. In a switch construction, two relatively rotatable members cachhaving an annular portion in a concentric radially spaced relation tothat of the other thus providing an annular space between them, one ofsaid members having a recess adjacent to said annular space, a brushconsisting of a leaf' spring having a bent portion anchored in saidrecess and a free end portion contacting with the other member at theopposite side of said annular space, the latter member having conductingand non-conducting portions contacted by said brush, and currentconducting means electrically connected with said brush and conductingmaterial.

2. In a multiple switch construction, a mounting means, a stationarydisk mounted thereon, said disk having a hub-like flange and aperipheral flange both projecting laterally from the same face thereof,a spacious annular clearance being thereby provided between saidflanges, a manually turnable member mounted upon said stationary disk,said turnable member having an annular flange in a spaced intermediaterelation to both the aforesaid anges of said stationary disk, an innerdisk member turnably mounted upon said hub-like flange, said innermember having an annular flange intervening between said hub1ike flangeand the flange next radially outward therefrom, circuit making andbreaking means occupying all the annular spaces between said annularflanges and operable by relative turning movements of said members, andcurrent conducting means connected with said circuit making and breakingmeans to distribute the current to a plurality of points of use.

3. In a multiple switch construction, a member having an annularportion, a first, second and third brush of conducting material mountedinternally upon said annular portion in an insulated relation to eachother, the first and third brushes being located substantiallydiametrically opposite to each other and the second being locatedsubstantially midway between the other two with respect to thecircumference of said annular portion, an internal generally circularpart the periphery of which is spaced radially inward from the innerperiphery of said annular portion, approximately three-fourths of theperiphery of said circular part having a continuous face of conductingmaterial and the remaining portion of said periphery having a face ofnonconducting material which occupies the interval between the oppositeend portions of said face of conducting material, said annular portionand circular member being relatively rotatable to move all of saidbrushes progressively across said two face portions, and currentconducting means connected with all of said brushes.

4. In a multiple switch construction, a member having an annularportion, a iirst, second and third brush of conducting material mountedinternally upon said annular portion in an insulated relation to eachother, said three brushes being consecutively grouped in a spacedrelation to each other and leaving the remainder of the circumferentialextent of said annular portion unoccupied by any of them', an internalgenerally circular part the periphery of which is spaced radially inwardfrom the inner periphery of said annular portion, a portion of theperiphery of said circular part having a face of conducting material andthe remaining portion of said periphery having a face of non-conductingmaterial which occupies the interval between the opposite end portionsof said face of conducting material, said annular portion and circularmember being relatively rotatable to move all of said brushesprogressively across said two face portions, and current conductingmeans operatively related to all of said brushes.

5. In an electric switch, a brush-mounting member comprising a casinghaving an annular portion furnished with an interval circumferentiallyelongated recess, each end of said recess having therein a seat in itsend wall, and a brush consisting of a bent strip of metal, said striphaving a run opposite end portions of which are seated in said seats,said strip also having a free portion to perform the circuit makingfunction.

6. The subject matter of claim 5 and, at least one of said seats openingout at a side of said annular portion of the casing to allow said stripof metal to be moved in an edgewise manner into its operative positionin said seat.

PAUL A. HEADY.

